Staying in london for a week

REUTERS: Following are five big themes likely to dominate the thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.GONE TO THE DOGSInvestors burnt in the 2018 stock market rout will be happy to put the Year of the Dog behind them. Instead, the end of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday will usher in the Year of the Pig, a symbol of wealth and prosperity.The first month of the Gregorian calendar may augur well, too. The US$4 trillion MSCI world stocks index just enjoyed the best start to a year since the benchmark began in 1988. The question is: Can the Pig help global equities sustain this stellar run?Some bargain hunting and short-covering were to be expected after December's historic rout. Hopes that the trade spat between Washington and Beijing may ease and signs of a pause in U.S. interest rate hikes also helped. But a major issue behind the selloff - China's cooling economy - has not gone away.What's more, investors obsessing over whether the … [Read more...] about Take Five: Dogs and Pigs. World markets themes for the week ahead

ISTANBUL: Jamal Khashoggi believed he was safe in Turkey.Khashoggi, a veteran Saudi journalist and newspaper editor, had lived in exile in Washington for more than a year, writing a column for the Washington Post in which he regularly criticised his country's crackdown on dissent, its war in Yemen and sanctions imposed on Qatar.He said he could write freely in the United States in a way that was impossible at home, according to friends and colleagues, but he was increasingly worried that Riyadh could hurt him or his family.In Turkey, though, Khashoggi had friends in high places, including some of President Tayyip Erdogan's advisers. So when he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, he hoped the appointment would be brief, a simple bureaucratic task that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiancee, whom he had met four months earlier."He said the safest country in the world for Saudi Arabians was Turkey," said Yasin Aktay, an Erdogan aide and close … [Read more...] about Apple Watch, hired jet, mystery vehicle figure in search for missing Saudi dissident

Oil rose to $80 a barrel in London for the first time since 2014 as U.S. crude inventories fell and traders braced for the impact of renewed sanctions on OPEC member Iran. Brent futures added as much as 1.1 percent to $80.18 on Thursday. U.S. crude stockpiles slipped for a second week as the summer driving season approaches, government data showed on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said America’s surging shale output won’t be able to replace the potential drop in Iranian oil shipments after the U.S. reimposed sanctions on OPEC’s third-largest producer. Crude has rallied this month to the highest level in more than three years after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 pact between Iran and world powers that had eased sanctions on the Islamic Republic in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. While the International Energy Agency said a global glut’s been eliminated thanks to output curbs by OPEC, it warned high prices may hurt consumption and … [Read more...] about Oil rises to $80 a barrel in London for first time since 2014

caption Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT. source REUTERS/Mary Turner Insiders at BT say the 13,000 layoffs announced yesterday are much more “savage” than expected. The company is rife with the rumour that management is trying to dress the company up for some kind of transaction, possibly involving Deutsche Telekom. BT is hobbled by years of technical debt. Its main internal database is decades old. It is so fragile that a fire in a Rochdale datacentre crippled the company internally for 10 days in 2016. Any acquiring company that can free itself of BT’s £11 billion pension deficit obligation might inherit a nice little monopoly over Britain’s internet. LONDON – In years past, when Gavin Patterson, the CEO of BT, has wanted to launch a major new initiative, he broadcast an all-hands video to BT’s 106,000 employees. Internally, the … [Read more...] about The 13,000 ‘savage’ layoffs at BT could be preparing the company for a sale, insiders say

We have about a week to go before the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Final details are being ironed out and important family members are flying in, including Meghan's parents Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle. Doria reportedly landed in London and will be staying at Kensington Palace with Prince Harry and Meghan. Like any other mom of the bride, she will be helping out with a few wedding details as reported by ABC News. Her dad Thomas is travelling from Mexico and will be arriving soon. "Doria will be meeting Harry and Meghan's nearest and dearest while she's here, including close friend Jessica Mulroney, who arrives on Monday," said Good Morning America's royal contributor Omid Scobie. That means Doria will finally get to know the Queen, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, and of course, the little tots Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Doria will be breaking traditions, a staple for this wedding apparently, and will … [Read more...] about Meghan Markle’s mom just arrived in London for the royal wedding